Baxi boiler using 6 x more energy!

[Finmory]

I just moved house and it seems that the Baxi condensing boiler in the new place is using 3 times as many kw, when I have the heating on roughly half as long as at the old property. Plus the boiler at the last property was ancient and due to be replaced, it seems crazy that a new boiler is using so much.

Can this possibly be right?!

Well the meter doesn't lie - or doesn't usually.

What is the kW rating of the boiler and how long do you have it on for ?

My 24 kW boiler uses about 13 kWh when it is on for an hour.

Did you move from a new build flat to a 5 bed victorian townhouse ?

More or less radiators ?

Was it thermostated (ie maintaining temperature) or just full on for the time you had it on ?

Did you benchmark it over the recent cold period, which was colder than probably any two week period since Dec 2010 ?

So much information missing here...

@GasPanic it's a Baxi 830 so I think it's a 21.2kwh boiler. I don't have the user manual to confirm.

I've had the heating on for around 2 hours a day which is costing about £6. I've just had it on in 2 hour bursts rather than relying on the thermostat so I could control costs. Also, I don't seem to have a thermostat (it's a rented property so no idea where it went).

New and old places are both Victorian flats with similar energy ratings. Same number of rooms but higher ceilings here, and 3 more radiators.

And yes, I benchmarked over the cold snap as that's when I moved in.

I've turned the heating flow down to 55 (from 80) which will hopefully help a little.

Do you have the units set up right on the meter ?

The units are normally m3 or ft3x100.

If one meter is in m3 and the other in ft3x100 then the ft3x100 meter would read about 3x less than the m3 meter.

I think £6 for 2 hours is expensive. I think mine is about £1.20-£1.30 an hour, so getting on for 40% of your cost.

Thanks @GasPanic that's really helpful. My old meter was ft3 and the new one is m3. However the new meter is digital so gives the cost and the cost per hour is correct.

I've realised though that my new supplier mentioned sending me a card to top up, so perhaps I'm on a prepayment rate rather than credit? Despite them taking details to set up a DD. That might explain it. They're closed today but will ring next week to clarify and change to a credit meter if this is the case.

I would be surprised if prepayment is 3x more expensive than standard, but I don't know really.

They do get the meter units mixed up ocassionally, so for example your smart meter if you have one might be programmed with m3 whereas it actually should be ft3x100 and vice versa. There was someone on another thread that was billed in ft whereas their units were actually ft3x100. They were paying 100x less than they should have !

Best way to check is to measure the units used on the actual meter itself and see whether or not they correspond to the smart meter if you have one.

Also there must be some way how the prepayment meter knows that when you are adding units you are adding in ft3x100 or m3 IYSWIM...I don't know how prepayment works.

But that factor of about 3 is quite suspicious...

Good luck.

With the government price guarantee there is very little difference between pre paid and credit now. Pricing is pretty much the same across all energy providers and tariffs. Unless you have a pre price increase fix gas is approximately 10p per kWh and electric 34p per kWh, then add standing charges and vat at 5%. The are small regional differences but you can check your region online but the differences are marginal and not 3x more expensive.

op does your new place have a combi boiler? If so check to see if preheat is on and if so turn it off. Also if it has a smart system like hive or TADO check to see if that has been set to preheat and turn it off as well. Check your water temperature and flow rate on the boiler. If combi then make sure the water isn’t on preheat and that the temperature isn’t over 60. With a combi you can set your water temperature as low as you want so you need to find the temperature that is comfortable to use for you without the need to add cold. If a tanked system water should be set no lower than 60 because of the risk of legionnaires. The flow rate control s the temperature of the water flowing around your radiators. If it is a condenser boiler then to keep it in condenser mode it should be set between 60 and 70. Again it is trail and error to find the point that is comfortable to you and affordable to you. You might have to adjust it dependant on the weather as when it’s colder it needs to be higher.

whilst there is no difference in unit costs with any suppliers at the moment you do still get a discount of around 9% for having a credit meter with a direct debit so if you are prepaid get that changed over. If it is a smart meter then your energy provider can do it remotely by flicking a switch so get on chat to them and get it changed over.

If your house is heating up from cold, the boiler will run at maximum (e.g. 20 kw) until the target temperature is reached (if you have a thermostat).

You could try reducing the partial load setting on the boiler - e.g. reduce the maximum heating output to 10 kW. If you run the boiler based upon 'hours on', rather than target temperature, that might reduce the cost per hour - but it might take longer to heat your home.